Comprehensive measurement of the opportunity to see online advertisements

Abstract

A method, apparatus, system, article of manufacture and computer program product provide the ability to determine the opportunity to see an online advertisement. Determinations are made regarding whether the advertisement is in a visible portion of a webpage, whether the advertisement is in an active tab of a web browser, and whether a browser window is visible. A confirmation is conducted that the visibility of the advertisement is not hindered by an element or a parent element property. A percentage of the advertisement that has an opportunity to be seen is calculated by dynamically inserting visibility trackers into the advertisement and detecting which of the trackers are concurrently visible at a same time. Times each of the trackers are visible are calculated to determine a time in view measurement by ad percentage. A determination is made whether the advertisement is shown to a real, human, non-automated website visitor.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for determining the opportunity to see an online advertisement, comprising:
 determining that the online advertisement is in a visible portion of a webpage;   determining that the online advertisement is in an active tab of a web browser;   determining that a browser window, that contains the online advertisement, is visible;   confirming that visibility of the online advertisement is not hindered by an element property or a parent element property;   calculating a percentage of the online advertisement that has an opportunity to be seen by dynamically inserting one or more visibility trackers into the online advertisement and detecting which of the one or more visibility trackers are concurrently visible at a same time;   calculating times each of the one or more visibility trackers are visible to determine a time in view measurement by ad percentage; and   determining that the online advertisement is shown to a real, human, non-automated website visitor.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining that the online advertisement is in the visible portion of the webpage comprises:
 conducting a geometrical measurement by measuring the position of the online advertisement on the web page and the position of the webpage in the web browser.   
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining that the online advertisement is in the visible portion of the webpage comprises:
 utilizing a plugin installed in the web browser to determine that either:
 the user has scrolled the webpage and caused content to move outside of the visible portion of the webpage; or 
 another tab is opened in the web browser and caused content to move to a background. 
   
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining that the online advertisement is in the visible portion of the webpage comprises:
 utilizing an application programming interface (API) to detect whether an animation is in view; and   modifying or throttling a number of frames per second allocated to the animation based on whether the animation is in view.   
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining that the browser window, that contains the online advertisement, is visible comprises:
 determining that a state of the browser window is a maximized window or a restored window.   
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the confirming that visibility of the online advertisement is not hindered by the element property or the parent element property comprises analyzing:
 an element type property;   a visibility property;   a display property;   a height property;   a width property   an offset property;   a z-index property;   a position property;   an overflow property; and   an opacity property.   
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the one or more visibility trackers are inserted in the corners and center of the online advertisement; and   the calculating the percentage of the online advertisement that has an opportunity to be seen further comprises detecting which of the one or more visibility trackers are on and off the visible portion of the webpage.   
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the calculating times each of the one or more visibility trackers are visible further comprises:
 aggregating data from all of the one or more visibility trackers;   combining times, that each of the one or more visibility trackers are on and off the visible portion of the webpage, with animation times of the online advertisement; and   based on the aggregating and combining, determining the time in view measurements by ad percentage for overall time in view and time in view during ad animation.   
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that the online advertisement is shown to a real, human, non-automated website visitor comprises:
 checking for a presence of a connected cursor control device;   checking a cursor position periodically and comparing the cursor position to a previously checked cursor position to ensure a cursor is moved in a first defined period of time;   analyzing a first number of impressions from a first internet protocol (IP) address and first user within a second defined time period;   analyzing a second number of impressions from a second user with the same first IP address or same cookie as the first user;   analyzing a cookie deletion frequency within a third defined time period; and   analyzing time spent on pages and average time ads are in view.   
     
     
         10 . An apparatus for determining the opportunity to see an online advertisement, in a computer system comprising:
 (a) a computer having a memory;   (b) an application executing on the computer, wherein the application is configured to:
 determine that the online advertisement is in a visible portion of a webpage; 
 determine that the online advertisement is in an active tab of a web browser; 
 determine that a browser window, that contains the online advertisement, is visible; 
 confirm that visibility of the online advertisement is not hindered by an element property or a parent element property; 
 calculate a percentage of the online advertisement that has an opportunity to be seen by dynamically inserting one or more visibility trackers into the online advertisement and detecting which of the one or more visibility trackers are concurrently visible at a same time; 
 calculate times each of the one or more visibility trackers are visible to determine a time in view measurement by ad percentage; and 
 determine that the online advertisement is shown to a real, human, non-automated website visitor. 
   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the application is configured to determine that the online advertisement is in the visible portion of the webpage by:
 conducting a geometrical measurement by measuring the position of the online advertisement on the web page and the position of the webpage in the web browser.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the application is configured to determine that the online advertisement is in the visible portion of the webpage by:
 utilizing a plugin installed in the web browser to determine that either:
 the user has scrolled the webpage and caused content to move outside of the visible portion of the webpage; or 
 another tab is opened in the web browser and caused content to move to a background. 
   
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the application is configured to determine that the online advertisement is in the visible portion of the webpage by:
 utilizing an application programming interface (API) to detect whether an animation is in view; and   modifying or throttling a number of frames per second allocated to the animation based on whether the animation is in view.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the application is configured to determine that the browser window, that contains the online advertisement, is visible by:
 determining that a state of the browser window is a maximized window or a restored window.   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the application is configured to confirm that visibility of the online advertisement is not hindered by the element property or the parent element property by analyzing:
 an element type property;   a visibility property;   a display property;   a height property;   a width property   an offset property;   a z-index property;   a position property;   an overflow property; and   an opacity property.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the one or more visibility trackers are inserted in the corners and center of the online advertisement; and   the application is configured to calculate the percentage of the online advertisement that has an opportunity to be seen further by detecting which of the one or more visibility trackers are on and off the visible portion of the webpage.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the application is configured to calculate times each of the one or more visibility trackers are visible further by:
 aggregating data from all of the one or more visibility trackers;   combining times, that each of the one or more visibility trackers are on and off the visible portion of the webpage, with animation times of the online advertisement; and   based on the aggregating and combining, determining the time in view measurements by ad percentage for overall time in view and time in view during ad animation.   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the application is configured to determine that the online advertisement is shown to a real, human, non-automated website visitor by:
 checking for a presence of a connected cursor control device;   checking a cursor position periodically and comparing the cursor position to a previously checked cursor position to ensure a cursor is moved in a first defined period of time;   analyzing a first number of impressions from a first internet protocol (IP) address and first user within a second defined time period;   analyzing a second number of impressions from a second user with the same first IP address or same cookie as the first user;   analyzing a cookie deletion frequency within a third defined time period; and   analyzing time spent on pages and average time ads are in view.